Category: Business World

Business World

Provide level playing field to Agri-NBFCs in Budget 2021-22

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments

~By Mr. Prabhat Chaturvedi, CEO, Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency (NAFA)~

 Agriculture and allied activities employ more than 50 percent of the workforce and yet remain largely unorganized and fragmented. Even after showing the silver lining during the gruelling economic slowdown induced by an unforeseen pandemic, the Indian agribusiness is not flourishing to its full capacity. Lack of knowledge about the advantages of modern and scientific agricultural practices, and depleting natural resources, are adding to the distress in the sector. The Government of India has taken multiple measures to bring radical and profound changes to the sector, but the reality remains that change is coming at a much slower rate than required, especially when it comes to farmers receiving adequate credit. Agriculture requires substantial capital commitment, as procurement of equipment remains a major spend for most farmers, but most of the agricultural credit extended to farmers is of a working capital nature (in for of Kisan Credit Cards). The forthcoming budget thus is an opportunity to address the farmers’ existing challenges and offer a strategic intervention for sustainable growth of the sector.

Inclusion of NBFCs for interest subsidy on agriculture loans

For enabling Agri-NBFCs to emerge as a significant contributor in financing the entire value chain of agriculture, the budget should ensure that Agri-NBFCs are included in the major Government subsidy schemes and programs, a benefit hitherto available only to the Banks. This will bring about certainty and predictability in the business of rural lending and make the system transparent in terms of policy implementation. Additionally, customer benefits will also significantly increase. The government statistics suggest that more than 85% of the farmers are small & marginal with < 2 ha of land have <30% access to formal credit. To ease the access of credit and support the government’s ambition of financial inclusion, Agri-NBFCs has played a pivotal role by offering access to financing at attractive and competitive commercial terms for farming equipment and machinery. However, these NBFCs have traditionally been excluded from the purview of government subsidy schemes.

Credit Guarantee Scheme for adopting micro-irrigation

Credit guarantees are one of a pool of instruments for risk mitigation and credit enhancement measures. Addressing the inherent volatility in agricultural business, the creation of a credit guarantee corpus, using a blend of structured finance instruments such as subordination and portfolio concertation limits, would address the new and changing needs of Agri-NBFCs. These funds would ensure a greater flow of credit to farmers and will cushion the risks for lenders.

Digitization of land records

To channelize the financial resources in the farmers’ direction, the operational ease in creation and release of collateral security needs to be ensured. The forthcoming Budget should address the digitization of land records in all states, that can identify and trace the right beneficiaries for Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs). While this process of digitization has begun in many states, it continues to dawdle in quite a lot of others. In some states, the online facility of charge-creation and charge-release is available for Banks, but not for the NBFCs.

Streamlining rating system

The rate cuts made by the RBI do not always ensure lower borrowing costs for NBFCs. The existing rating system discounts Agri-NBFCs which do not fit size-related parameters. Knowing the volatility of the borrower’s business, these NBFCs follow a different pattern of coefficients than the ones servicing housing or consumer portfolios. The policymakers should consider the risk associated with Agri-NBFCs and formulate a guideline for banks to deploy funds at a lower cost. A differentiated rating system that considers the capital adequacy ratio of Agri-NBFCs, underwriting system, profitability and other parameters would go a long way to close the disparity in funding.

Business World, News

PNB celebrates Republic Day with a humanitarian cause

Jan 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #MD & CEO, #PNB, #Shri CH.S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao

Hyderabad/New Delhi: Nation’s leading public sector bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB) today celebrated the 72nd Republic Day with lots of patriotism and fervor.  The PNB MD & CEO Shri. CH. S. S. Mallikarjuna Rao hoisted the National flag at headquarters in New Delhi. The ceremony was attended by the EDs, CVO, CGMs and senior officials of PNB.

Saluting the warriors, Shri CH. S. S. Mallikarjuna Rao, MD & CEO, PNB said “PNB Parivar salutes the innumerable sacrifices the armed forces have made for our wellbeing. The pandemic had brought the toughest time across globe, but we now see the positivity and improvement in the economy. With the advent of the vaccine, the impact is receding. We salute the contribution and responsibility taken by our frontline warriors our medical fraternity and the healthcare industry for bringing a ray of hope.

Appreciating the contribution and the enthusiasm shown by the entire PNB Parivar 2.0, MD & CEO said “PNB has successfully completed the CBS integration with e-UBI and e-OBC in record time, managing 18crore plus customers. The amalgamation is the turnaround for the bank, the resilience in bouncing back with the animal spirit. Taking a lead as a premier bank PNB Parivar takes the pledge to strengthen the bank in the days to come.

The bank has always been a step ahead in contributing to the economy by introducing multiple initiatives. With the Gram Sampark Abhiyan, the bank has covered 29,770 villages with 14 lakh plus customers. Promoting the entrepreneurial spirit, through the MSME cluster campaign, the bank has identified 240 plus clusters targeting 400 plus customers by March 2021, MD & CEO added.

During the celebrations, PNB generously donated through the ‘PNB Prerna’ initiative to four organisations working for the welfare of various sections of the society. The initiative was headed by Smt. Janaki Chamarty, the wife of Shri. CH. S. S. Mallikarjuna Rao, MD & CEO, PNB

The financial assistance was offered to HelpAge India, Inspiration, Delhi Council of Child Welfare and Earth Saviours Foundation, providing them with the necessary support during these difficult times. Donations were made at a ceremony organised at the PNB Staff Training CSC, Civil Lines, New Delhi.

The PNB Women Welfare Association, also known as PNB Prerna, constitutes spouses of MD and CEO, EDs, CVO, CGMs and GMs as well as working members of the Bank. Its members have been organising and participating in CSR activities of the Bank including Child Welfare, Tree Plantation, Education, etc., from their own corpus funds.

Business World

Realtors eagerly waiting for sector specific announcements on Budget

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Achal Raina, #COO, #Raheja Developers

The government has made a number of announcements and initiatives during 2020 to streamline the industry and provide liquidity options for stalled projects; the sector now has high hopes for the upcoming budget. The government is supposed to take the thinking and intervention of last year to come up with announcements that can be introduced in the short term.

“The first and foremost need is to see that the process of permissions get resolved through single window clearance, a demand that has been there for quite some time. Authorities responsible for giving permissions can also be brought under the ambit of RERA to make sure that the permissions do not take much time; this step can be an option if single-window clearance is not announced.  We all know that government is promoting Housing for All and for it to become a reality it is important to ease out the cost burden on real estate by controlling the cost of construction; the Budget must have an announcement regarding cost effective materials for the housing being developed under affordable housing,” says Achal Raina, COO, Raheja Developers.

The real estate sector needs government help, and every Indian wants to have a home. The biggest challenges are cost and delay escalation; government must step in through income tax incentives, developers, appropriately priced land, land supply for affordable housing in major cities, and so on. The list of demands is endless because the target is large-to provide houses that they can afford to everyone in the budget and still not compromise on the facilities or the buyers’ deadlines.

Uddhav Poddar, MD, Bhumika Group, says, “We expect the Government to allow for the availing of Input Tax Credit of GST charged on construction of rented property and utilize the same towards the payment of GST on the lease rentals. We also want the government to focus on infrastructure development of tier 2 and 3 cities and make these cities ready for the next round of urbanisation. We also expect the long-awaited industry status to the real estate sector as after agriculture, construction is the biggest job generator, and employs the largest number of workers. We expect Stamp Duty to be subsumed into GST to incentivize home buyers and the overall property market sentiments. Lastly, the Government must intervene and resolve the NBFC and banking crisis, and make credit available for the real estate sector and specifically construction finance.”

To ensure stable economic growth, the FM will be under pressure to tackle all facets of life. We hope that, by growing their disposable incomes, the Budget can allow people to have more purchasing power. Abhishek Bansal, Executive Director, Pacific Group of Malls, says, “The retail segment is looking at measures that could ease out the tax burden on people. Retail activity is one of the crucial aspects of the economy, and the segment would be eagerly waiting to hear about sops that could help it overcome the challenging times of the pandemic.”

The need is to improve economic growth after the pandemic, which will happen if the economic growth vehicles, the commercial sector, get all the support needed to complete the projects as quickly as possible. Ashish Bhutani, MD, Bhutani Group, says, “We expect the Government to come out with steps to address the liquidity issue, and fund allocation for infrastructure in the metro peripheral areas. The help would entail measures such as bringing the real estate sector in the banks’ priority lending list and extending industry status to the whole sector. We hope that the FM will make this Budget count as one-of-its-kind Budget that can bring about the intended economic growth.”

Reforms in the Union Budget 2021-22 are highly awaited, and the sector expects the government to work out policies to fix the liquidity issue, leading to delays in the completion and execution of the programme. “Model Tenancy Law recently passed by UP Govt. has been a great step to bring in professionalism in the sector. More such prudent measures like granting industry status to the sector will help in bringing commercial and residential realty in the banks’ priority lending list. We are hoping FM will review the year gone by, challenges it has presented and the scope of development coming year can offer while presenting this budget. One of the key demands from this budget will be to help the middle income group have more buying power by increasing their disposable incomes. The retail segment is looking at changes that could ease out the tax burden on people,” says Sagar Saxena, Project Head, Spectrum Metro.

Business World

Greenply Industries launches an exquisite collection of Italian dyed veneers “Farbivo”

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Greenply Industries Limited

Hyderabad: Greenply Industries Limited, one of India’s largest interior infrastructure brands with over 30 years of experience in manufacturing a comprehensive range of plywood, block boards, decorative veneers, flush doors, and other allied products, today announced the launch of their premium collection of Italian dyed veneers “Farbivo”. The exquisite product portfolio will fall under Greenply’s premium collection of natural decorative veneers, Wood Crrests.

Greenply veneers are made of exotic species specially handpicked from across the globe such as America, Brazil, Europe, and Africa adding the inherent beauty of timber to your furniture. The veneers are unique, as each flitch of veneer has a distinct pattern, is durable, and is also E1 compliant. Synonymous with all things beautiful and elegant, the veneers gives your home something that goes beyond furniture. Made from the finest timber, it promises to add a glamorous spin to the idea of premium living. The “Farbivo” veneers are

specially crafted with Mediterranean sensibilities and are the perfect way to make your spaces reflect your own personality by adding an aesthetical appeal to it.

Remarking on the launch of the new collection range, Mr. Sanidhya Mittal, Joint Managing Director – Greenply Industries Ltd said “With innovation and technology at our core, we strive to create products that are made to fit the evolving needs of customers. Our new collection “Farbivo” is rendered with Italian craftsmanship complete with the assurance of continental precision and quality. We are now focused on delivering more such product range which will provide our consumers a complete peace of mind and promote aesthetic living.”

“We have selected 60 exclusive shades for dying exceptional range of Architectural Grade (One of a kind) Veneers. The Farbivo range is processed in Italy at state-of-the-art veneer dying plant to ensure premium aesthetics and consistency of shade”, said Shyam Shekhawat, Business Head, Greenply Industries Limited.

The premium Italian dyed veneers ‘Farbivo’ is available in over 50 shades and textures with grey being the most dominant shade. This exquisite collection gives your home something that goes beyond furniture. Made from the finest timber, it promises to add a glamorous spin to the idea of premium living. This new collection enables you to transform your domestic plane into a slice of living art. The complete collection of Wood Crrests Veneers, including the Farbivo Dyed Veneers are borer proof and termite resistant and E1 compliant. As an effort towards clean and green living, Greenply Industries are coming up with more such product range which will promote aesthetic living among the consumer base.

Business World

Anushka Shetty, the Bahubali fame actress, graced the launch of ShePahi, the first Annual Conference 2021 held

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #actress Anushka Shetty, #Commissioner of Police, #Cyberabad Police, #Mr VC Sajjanar, #ShePahi

Hyderabad: ‘ShePahi’ the first of its kind Annual Conference 2021 of women police held today at JRC Conventions at Jubilee Hills, Film Nagar in the city.

Over 750 women police, their officers attended the daylong conference.

The Bahubali film fame actress Anushka Shetty was the guest of honour

Smt.Swati Lakra, IPS., (Addtl. DGP Women Safety Wing) along with Cyberabad CP Shri. VC Sajjanar, IPS., and Women and Children Safety Wing (W&CSW) DCP Smt. Anasuya graced the occasion

The theme of Annual SHE conference was “SHEpahi”, pahi meaning is good work –

  • S- Strength
  • H-Humanity
  • E- Empathy

bringing out the attributes that a woman brings to the police force.

Each woman is a soldier – a person on the ground to provide protection. Shield symbol signifies protection.

Welcoming the gathering Mr VC Sajjanar, Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad Police said under its jurisdiction 750 women police work. They have their own issues, challenges. So, we decided to hold this first conference on an annual basis. It is a first of its kind conference.

Anushka Shetty seen launching a video at the conference

12% of the total police force is women police. They are efficient. Given any responsibility they perform well. 50 per cent of senior police officers in Cyberabad are women. We have women in all the 17 verticals in Cyberabad. We work shoulder to shoulder in tandem, said Mr VC Sajjanar.

34% of Investigating Assistants are women. This has set a trend in India. A Woman SI in Rajendranagar Ms. Shwetha puts an exemplary service on par with her male colleagues, he shared.

Mr Sajjanar also mentioned about a woman Court Constable Ms. Pankaja because of whom police could get 16 life convictions. Even today she is busy attending a case in LB Nagar Court and unable to attend the conference. She is very committed to her work, he added.

He spoke about B. Ganga, K. Geetha, Alivelu and Swapna drivers of three DIAL 100 Immediate Response Vehicles launched today. They didn’t even know about cycling. These new recruits of 2020 have learnt driving after joining in the police last October, but picked it up fast. Ganga and Swapna are graduates and Alivelu and Geetha are intermediate. All women police in future will be trained in driving, informed Mr VC Sajjanar.

Speaking on the side-lines of the conference Ganga one of the drivers said, she was reluctant and afraid of driving initially but due to the confidence given by all, they could comfortably learn driving.

Traffic Women Police Pratyusha, Mr Sajjanar said, is always seen attentive in her duty on the road. Kavitha who is working in Cyber Crimes is handling her job so efficiently.

Similarly, among civilians Mr Sajjanar appreciated the efforts of Ms Prashanthi of COVID Control room, Kavitha, a driver from Miyapur, Jyotsna Angara for training women drivers.

Speaking further Mr Sajjanar said Cyberabad so far has 7 She Shuttle Services and today one more added thanks to Virtusa and SCSC. Nearly 60,000 women commute in these shuttles. He urged more companies to come forward to sponsor more such shuttle services.

There is one person, mother behind all our success including me because of the discipline she taught me. He told all women police to teach discipline to those whom they come in contact with. He appealed all mothers to raise children with discipline to have crime free society, state and nation.

DCP Anasuya giving her opening remarks described conference as historic and highlighted the various initiatives taken up for the welfare of women and Children in the Commissionerate. We among other issues discuss our profession, health and inspirational stories during the one-day conference she informed.

Two videos were launched at the conference including one on ‘SheTeams’.

Addressing gathering on occasion Anushka Shetty said though we film stars are portrayed as stars, each one of you seated in this hall are stars. We are reel stars and you are the real stars. Because your efforts and hard work behind us, we feel so secured and your sacrifices are supreme. I am privileged to be here amongst you, she said.

She lauded the efforts of the Cyberabad police during the pandemic, particularly the plasma drive they carried out. We can’t imagine a safe and secured life without police.

Addressing the gathering Chief Guest Ms. Swati Lakra said there is no gender bias in the police. We get trained and work together as one team. Then only we can give good service.

The Bharosa which was established in 2016 has presence in just 4 places. In 2021 it will be extended to 10 places. Bharosa provides integrated support to women and children who have been subjected to severe abuse, be it physical, sexual, financial or emotional.

She lauded the efforts of Cyberabad Police working on CCTV Surveillance on war foot basis. This project not only helps in prevention, but also in investigation and detection she said.

Speaking about Dial 100 and its response, Smt Swathi Lakra said, the present response time is under 10 minutes, which will be further improved upon.

Speaking about Girls Safety Clubs, an initiative, she said currently 12 colleges have 300 volunteers. We had interaction with 2500 college principals on the same prior to the pandemic. The girl volunteers in these clubs will be our eyes and ears as police can’t be there everywhere.

Addressing the new recruits, Swathi Lakra said when you as police help somebody you will drive a lot of satisfaction which no amount of money can give you.

Fifty per cent of the population are women. 50 per cent women should be there in police too. Also, there should be women in all the 17 verticals. Every woman police is on par with her male colleagues she told.

Women safety is the top priority of Telangana Police and Cyberabad Police.

On arrival Anushka Shetty together with top police officers flagged off three DIAL 100 Immediate Response Vehicles and one SHE Shuttle bus sponsored by Virtusa.

These DIAL 100 Vehicles will have women police officers along with male police officers to respond to women who dial the number 100 for help. In case of domestic violence, they will conduct counselling, warn the respondent or help women file FIR/petty cases in the police station. The teams will work 24×7 round the clock. Already 3 such teams are working in the three zones of Cyberabad and the team delivered good results.

The SHE Shuttle bus is a free bus service for women working in the IT Corridor.

Women form over 30 % of the workplace in the IT industry. The SHE Shuttle bus is a hop on hop off service for women. Apart from the driver there will be a woman security guard in the bus to help the commuters. This bus has a GPS tracking system. It is completely sponsored by SCSC- Society for Cyberabad Security Council. It is a unique initiative and one of its kind in the country.

The ShePahi Conference deliberated upon the problems being faced by the women in the police force. The first Conference paved the way for future annual conferences of similar kind to instil a sense of solidarity and sisterhood among all the women police officers and for discussion of problems being faced by them.

In the afternoon, the Commissioner addressed the problems brought to his notice. Later a Gynaecologist and a nutritionist addressed about the problems, health concerns, medical, nutritional related matters and precautions to be taken. A motivational speaker addressed to charge up the participants and to raise their self esteem and pride.

All the women and officer were happy about the care and concern shown by organising the conference. The first ShePahi conference was a huge success.

Sanjay Kambam of Votary Tech who developed Reach Safe app for SCSC She Shuttles was present and explained the features of the app.

DCP Traffic Vijay Kumar, DCPs Anasuya, Padmaja; Vekateshwarlu; ADCPs Crime Kavitha, Indira, ADCP Admin Lavanya, ADCP, CAR Manik Raj; CAO Admin D Geetha; CAO A/C Chandrakala; Krishna Yedula, Gen Secretary SCSC and Bharani Aroll, President Hysea & Pratyusha Sharma, Womens Forum Leader, SCSC graced the occasion.

Business World

Denver ropes in Superstar Baadshah Kichcha Sudeepa as its brand ambassador

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Baadshah Kichcha Sudeepa, #Denver, #Kannada Superstar Sudeepa

Denver, the premium fragrance brand for men, has recently signed up Kannada Superstar Sudeepa as its new brand ambassador. Through this association, Denver aims to explore and leverage the massive untapped opportunities for fragrance brands in the Karnataka and nearby market. It also plans to launch a TVC featuring Sudeep to further strengthen its positioning as a premium player in the Deodorant & Men Grooming category across Karnataka.

Denver is a leading brand from the manufacturing hub Vanesa Care, and offers a wide array of perfumes and deodorants under male grooming category. By collaborating with Sudeep, not only it endeavours to become a brand that connects with the aura and style of today’s millennial generation, but it also strives to cement its stance as a leader in this space, showcasing international standards of perfumery. Baadshah Kichcha Sudeepa is one of the most admired celebrities in Karnataka, and this synergy is expected to augment Denver’s brand recall value to another level among its target audience.

Speaking on the appointment, Saurabh Gupta, Director (Marketing & Sales) – Denver, said, “We have been fortunate enough to create deep inroads within Hindi-speaking and Telugu markets by associating with leading stars like Shahrukh Khan and Mahesh Babu as our brand ambassadors. This time also, we were on the lookout for an equally loved celebrity from Karnataka to further enhance our footprint within the region.”

Mr. Gupta further added, “We are delighted to announce that Kichcha Sudeepa, one of the most well-known superstars within the Sandalwood film industry, is now on board with Denver as its new brand ambassador. As an icon and an idol for the region’s youth, he stands out as the perfect fit for the brand. We are confident that this association will enable us to reach out to and capture a much larger audience, thus significantly accelerating our growth in Karnataka.”

Baadshah Kichcha Sudeepa said, “Since its inception, Denver has strived to be a niche player in a competitive market. It has been making consistent efforts to be unique, especially when it comes to relating and connecting with its young target audience. I am happy to be the face of a leading brand like this, and excited to be a part of its growth trajectory. I look forward to a successful and long-standing synergy with Denver, and hope to catapult this brand to new heights going forward.”

With this association, Denver plans to go bullish on their market share in Karnataka.

Business World

Huawei Releases 7th Annual Global Connectivity Index Report and Proposes 5 Key Stages of Industry Digital Transformation

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Ecosystem efficiency and resilience, #Industry Digital Transformation

Huawei released its Global Connectivity Index (GCI) 2020, the seventh annual GCI report the company has published. For the first time in a GCI report, the 2020 release proposed five key stages of industry digital transformation: task efficiency, functional efficiency, system efficiency, organizational efficiency and agility, and ecosystem efficiency and resilience.

A key finding of the GCI 2020 is that the digital transformation of industries will help countries increase productivity, spur economic recovery, and develop future competitiveness. GCI research has suggested that economies which could increase productivity and go digital with intelligent connectivity generally enjoy higher gross value added (GVA) per worker or per hour worked.

Starters are proactively narrowing the gap with leading economies.

This report has analyzed the changes of each country’s GCI score since 2015. The average scores of Frontrunner, Adopter, and Starter economies have all increased since 2015, with Starters showing the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) followed by Adopters and then Frontrunners. This suggests that Starters are catching up with Adopters and Frontrunners and narrowing the digital gaps.

The 2020 report has also shown that Starters have made significant progress in broadband coverage. Their average mobile broadband penetration went up by more than 2.5 times, their 4G subscriptions went from 1% to 19%, and their mobile broadband became 25% more affordable. These achievements have enabled Starters to offer better comprehensive digital services and embrace new opportunities in economic development. In addition, their e-commerce expenditure has almost doubled since 2014 to over US$2,000 per person. Some Starters were moving up the GCI cluster, increased their GCI scores by up to 17%, and managed to raise GDP to a level that was 22% higher than some peers. Vietnam and Peru have both become Adopter economies in 2020.

Organizations in Frontrunner countries want to maintain IT expenditure

Research shows that the willingness of companies to invest in IT varies depending on where they are based. Organizations in Frontrunner and Adopter nations are prioritizing maintaining their IT budgets over non-IT budgets. They have also cut their IT budgets by 2.5 to 3.5 times less than organizations in other countries on average. Nations with more mature digital infrastructure are better positioned to minimize the economic impact of the pandemic, recover faster, and ensure the continuity of their transformation into higher-order productivity models.

The digital transformation of economic sectors will help economies develop “higher-order” productivity to spur economic recovery and future competitiveness.

Countries need to make ICT investments based on their unique set of existing factor endowments in order to produce a multiplier effect. In general, economies are made up of a combination of different sectors with one or two tending to dominate. The GCI 2020 report suggests that a country’s ICT strategy should be built around its accumulated sectoral strengths. Regardless of the industry, more digitalization means more added value.

For the first time in a GCI report, the 2020 release proposed five key stages for the digital transformation of economic sectors:

Stage 1: Task efficiency. Focus is placed on tracking the completion of individual tasks through basic connectivity and more efficient communication.

Stage 2: Function efficiency. Computerized or automated functions enabled by ICT make it possible to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and share information more efficiently.

Stage 3: System efficiency. More focus is put on the digitization of core system functions for efficient operations. Enterprises in this stage will have stronger demand for connectivity and cloud services.

Stage 4: Organizational efficiency and agility. Enterprise processes are digitalized, enterprise applications are migrated to the cloud, and all systems are effectively integrated. In addition, high-coverage networks, wide adoption of cloud-based applications, and AI and IoT deployment contribute to real-time data analysis and insights.

Stage 5: Ecosystem efficiency and resilience. The entire ecosystem is digitalized, able to quickly respond to market changes, and can support the automatic coordination and cross-sector collaboration of stakeholders. Representative technologies such as 5G, IoT, and robotics present new opportunities for the emergence of new business models, working methods, and products throughout the digitization process.

“As ICT permeates industries, digital transformation has become unanimously agreed on among countries and industries,” said Zhang Hongxi, Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei’s ICT Infrastructure. “For the first time, we extended our research perspective from the dimension of countries to industries. We also suggested digital transformation paths for countries and enterprises in different stages to help them build future-oriented economic resilience.”

GCI reports aim to provide policymakers and economic stakeholders with valuable insights that can help them speed up growth in the digital economy. The 79 countries evaluated by GCI 2020 represent 95% of the world’s GDP and 84% of global population.

Business World

Generating Your Home Seller Leads

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Generated Leads, #real estate

The real estate world is a complicated and jargon-filled one. In order to become a successful real estate agent, you must strive hard. You must know about various marketing tactics and strategies that will help you in bringing in new home seller leads for your firm. Generating high-quality seller leads is one of the most important requirements in order to stay on the top in the real estate industry. These seller leads that you are generating must be converted into customers within a stipulated time. So how will you work out different ways to bring in an increasing number of home seller leads? Before you reach the ways or strategies, it is very important to understand what exactly lead generation means and why real estate agents must follow them.

What Do You Mean By Lead Generation Strategy?

When you are in the real estate business, you must have a formula in order to attract prospective clients and easily convert them into potential customers. These generated leads or prospective clients are home sellers who are searching for the best real estate agent who can help them in selling their homes by finding the right buyers and negotiating to get the best deal. The home seller leads who are interested in working with you or doing business with you will provide their contact information in the form of a phone number or email id. While formulating the strategies, you need to focus on four main aspects of lead generation. If you keep them in mind while generating leads, you can ensure that the leads are of high quality and you will be able to generate more sales for your business. The four important aspects are :

  • Capturing Leads: You must have effective tactics that will enable you to collect information from prospective home sellers. The important information includes – the name, email id, and calling number. You can even ask for various qualifying information such as working place, or business name, etc.
  • Gaining Leads Through Lead Magnet: In simple words, you must provide incentives to the prospective home sellers so that they are encouraged to share their contact information with you. The incentives can be free services, discounted offers, free subscriptions, or anything else.
  • Qualification Process of the Leads: To ensure that you are getting high-quality leads, you must follow a process that will help you get information from your leads and verify them to determine how likely they are to sell their home and what is their deadline.
  • Segregation of the Generated Leads: Once you have a list of all the generated leads, you must sort them out based on their information, habits, and activities. The segregation will help you to send out only relevant content in the form of SMS, emails, business brochures, etc.

Here you can see some of the most reliable home seller lead generation strategies. These strategies or tactics are those that you can use to support each of these above-mentioned components. These tips are from experts and will help you to generate seller leads and also convert them into clients.

You Must Work Out The Direct Mail Campaign:

You can get it right from the subheading provided — it is a real estate home seller lead generation strategy in which you are focusing on gaining seller leads through email campaigning. You are sending out clearly crafted emails to all of your past clients as well as prospective clients. Besides this, you can prepare a list of property owners who are dealing with distressed property, abandoned houses, and controversial land properties. You can create content around such topics and send out the relevant mail to respective property owners. In this way, you can contact the people who would be eager to sell the property as soon as possible. You can use this opportunity to generate home seller leads.

 

Build a Strong Network System:

Whether you are new to the real estate business or an experienced agent, having a strong network is a must. You need to have a good rapport with past clients, attorneys, mortgage lenders, and many other people who own or are into local businesses.  When you are in contact with these people, you will always get a reference of home sellers looking for real estate agents to help them sell their properties. For having a strong network, you must stay in touch with them through phone calls, emails, or meetings.

Another important point that you must focus on is, while building a network, you must keep your professional and personal contacts separate. In this way, it would be easier for you to maintain leads in an organized manner.

 

You Must Make Use of the Expired Listings:

Generally, real estate agents avoid the expired listings as they assume that such leads are of no use. But you can take advantage of this opportunity. List out all of the expired listings in your neighborhood. Arrange meetings, talk to the clients, and understand what problems they are facing. Once you know the reason behind the property not getting sold, you can suggest alternative ways to sell the property. You must assure them that the property would get sold to the right buyers and within the stipulated time.

Work With Motivated Sellers:

It is a known fact that motivated sellers are one of the promising leads that could be easy to convert. Although all the motivated sellers have different goals for selling their property, the main focus would be on getting the property sold as quickly as possible. This motivating factor could be the easiest and the most convenient way to generate seller leads.

Organize Open House Meetings:

In such a meeting, you must invite people belonging to the real estate business world, such as land attorneys, mortgage lenders, bank officials, buyers, home sellers, and other real estate agents. It would be a great way to get in touch with new people and also generate seller leads.

Make Full Use of Digital Platforms:

In the digital era, if you are not tapping into the potential of social media, websites, and blogging, you will lag. You must have a brand presence on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Here you can display video content as well as textual content to attract home sellers. You can share video testimonials, reviews from past clients to show the way you work, and how effectively and conveniently you can get the properties sold to the right buyers.

Have You Thought of Designing Value-Added Newsletters?

If not, then this is the right time to do so. If you desire to generate high-quality home seller leads, then you should focus on designing Value-Added Newsletters. These newsletters can be either monthly or weekly. You must decide on how your home seller leads are going to react to it. While designing the newsletter, you must ensure that the content is compelling. Besides this, it must increase the interest of the readers in the content. Furthermore, you must make use of a proper call-to-action (CTA) in the newsletter. For instance, if the newsletter is regarding “ simple ways to sell your home”, then you have used the right title, which will encourage the readers to open the newsletter, then strategically place a call-to-action in the form of buttons or links or images that compel the clients to click. This is an effective way of keeping your leads engaged with your real estate services.

Here are some interesting points on which you can design a value-added newsletter.

  • Inform the readers about the new blog post that has been updated on the real estate website.
  • You can design a newsletter for providing information regarding product upgrades or the addition of new services.
  • You can provide discounts or free-service offers through newsletters.
  • You can share about all the upcoming events organized by your real estate firm, such as webinars, or open houses, etc.

Having a Real Estate Website – Employ Live Chat Features On Your Website:

Having a real estate website will make it easy for you to tap into the potential target audience. But if you want to enhance the user experience, employ a live chat feature on the website. With this feature, you can conveniently interact with the users, or the user can clear their doubts regarding the real estate services mentioned on your website. You can use this feature as a home seller lead generation strategy, where you can give an option to the users to provide their personal contact information. You can resolve all the doubts through the live chat and gather valuable information. So be proactive and start using this lead nurturing feature for clients.

You Should Optimize Your Real Estate Website For Lead Magnets:

Having a real estate website shows that you have a good online presence, but it is not enough to generate real estate leads. You must focus on optimizing the real estate website to provide an on-site funnel. With this effective technique, you can segregate the target audience (home seller leads) based on the audience’s needs, habits, and interests. For this, you need to follow these things:

  • You can highlight the funnel on the homepage of the website along with a call-to-action.
  • Use the website to develop a wide range of leads magnet at the end of each blog post or website page.
  • You can make use of a lead generation simplified pop-up.

All these will help you in gaining the right information from the prospective home sellers and determine whether they are of high quality or not.

You Must Employ a Perfect Referral Reward Structure:

Most often, you might have received advice from experienced agents to ask for referrals from your past clients, friends, and family. But not everyone is interested in providing referrals. There has to be some motivation so that people feel encouraged to provide referrals. So to make it happen, you must formulate a referral rewarding structure. In this, you must provide some free services, discounts or special offers to the past clients, friends, and family. Whenever someone is referring your name to prospective clients, they will look for value and trust. So you must make sure that you are showing yourself as a trustworthy and reliable real estate agent. This is no doubt an effective lead generation method. When people feel rewarded, they take more interest in providing you with high-quality referrals.

Your Focus Should Be On Using The CRM System Effectively:

Being in the real estate market, you might be familiar with a CRM – Customer Relationship Management software/ system. With this advanced CRM system, you can easily organize and manage your generated leads in one place. With the help of the CRM system, you can effectively send out messages or emails to the respective clients in just one go. Besides, you can also enhance your overall work efficiency. But you must understand that not all CRMs are designed perfectly. Different businesses require different types of CRM, which means you need to choose the CRM software the suits your needs and could be helpful in accomplishing your work. The CRM software you choose must have at least 3 essential features:

 

  • It must provide you with robust information or contact details storage.
  • Efficient for using it for customer services.
  • It should be helpful in email marketing.

 

Provide Your User a Free Real Estate Analysis Tool:

Till now you might have come across a lot of advice and suggestions related to generating leads through your website. Besides, having an optimized real estate website and informative blogs, there is something more important. You can provide a free real estate market analysis tool or mortgage analysis tool. In this way, you can witness an upsurge in website traffic. You might be wondering how to generate such a tool. Before you provide the result of the analysis to the users, you can ask them to share their contact details. It would be a win-win situation for both you and your audience. Users will definitely find it useful as it will be helpful in resolving financial issues.

Being in the digital era, it becomes quite essential to reap the full benefits provided to you, and only then you could come out as a successful real estate agent by beating the competitors one by one.

Real Estate Seller Leads Facebook Ads:

Social media platforms, like Facebook, offers a wealth of opportunities to generate real estate seller leads. You can run different types of Facebook ads to generate real estate seller leads. One of the Facebook ads you can run is a brand one where they can click on it and end up on your landing page on your website from their social media platform. The other kind of Facebook ad that you can run is a lead generating one where you complete a form on Facebook. Both types of Facebook ads work great, but some real estate agents do not want Facebook having their data beyond if they clicked and went to their landing page.

Facebook ads offer two other types of options. These Facebook ads focus on retargeting existing relationships. One of the real estate seller leads are people who click on your Facebook ads or visit your landing page. Facebook then start chasing them around with other stronger call-to-action ads that will lead them back to your landing page on your website. The other kind of retargeting ad on Facebook would come from your personal database. You load a custom list of real estate seller leads to Facebook to chase them around on their platform and partnerships’ platforms.

Real Estate Seller Leads: Google Pay Per Click (PPC)

Generating real estate seller leads from Google typically leads to one of the highest quality online seller lead generation because you can target very niched key phrases for each landing page. These seller leads are not just seeing ads attracting them in their social media news feed or a postcard in their mailbox. Having different landing pages that focus on different seller leads means you can attract very niche seller leads based on the property owner’s unique selling needs. For example, one page could be focused on expired listings and one on home valuation.

After these seller leads click on one of the landing pages, then with a Facebook book pixel on each page, it will trigger the correct Facebook ads to chase them around to get them to come back to one of your landing pages to hopefully build trust and to gain their business.

This combo of real estate leads typically increases the quality of them. Smart real estate agents want the best way to generate a real estate lead that converts the best. This happens with multiple landing pages for leads. Most home valuation leads are in the early stages of thinking about selling. These leads need a lot of high-value drips and contact to make sure you get them when they are ready. On the other hand, landing pages that focus on cash offers or listing a house for sale leads to a more urgent real estate lead. This is why having different seller landing pages is important to make sure you can meet them where they are at in their selling cycle.

As you can see, Google offers a great way to get started to generate leads, and Facebook ads help you with a great way to build additional trust with seller leads. Mixing both postcards, Google, and Facebook together is the best way to build brand awareness and trust for your local homeowners to choose you to help them sell their homes when the time is right for them.

Summary:

If you’re an Arizona Real Estate Agent and you are interested in any of the above-mentioned strategies, you can directly make use of the real estate websites and portals. These online platforms help in generating leads in a convenient way. But beware that not every site is trustworthy and reliable. You can make use of the most reliable platform — Dorrmat, as a member of the James Sanson Team with Keller Williams Realty Phoenix. They are an expansion team in multiple Arizona Real Estate markets. Dorrmat is an online real estate platform that is helpful for real estate agents in generating home seller leads. The platform is designed and constantly tested to ensure potential property owners looking to sell their house has the best options at the current moment. Additionally, the ads running to the platform are constantly AB tests and Google key phrases are always being examined for the best ROI. This leads to a real estate platform that benefits both property owners and real estate agents looking to come from a place of caring and consulting to assist in guiding the owners to the right path that makes the most sense to them. Come experience Dorrmat real estate leads, and see why property owners and agents rave so much about them.

Business World

Expectations: Union Budget 2021- 22 by Vikram Kumar, CEO, Lrnable Group

Jan 27, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #CEO, #ikram Kumar, #Lrnable Group

Union Budget 2021- 22: What skilling industry players expect this budget

  • The top-of-the-list industry demand is an effective and smooth digital infrastructure besides creation of a standardised protocol for skill mapping and assessment
  • The wish list also demands a separate vernacular fund in a phase-wise manner

“With over eight million graduates across streams entering the job market this financial year, India has quite a robust pool of fresh talent, unfortunately, the relevant talent supply is only 20%. It is imperative to create a sustainable and scalable skilling and hiring ecosystem leveraging technology to improve employability as well as meeting industry demands”, says, Vikram Kumar, CEO, Lrnable Group.

Citing expectations from this Union Budget 2021, Vikram said:

– Strengthening a skill mapping, skill enhancing/ upgrading and hiring ecosystem: The government should look at creating a standardised way towards mapping talent, the industry skill demands and transforming talent to meet those needs basis a credible assessment mechanism in place, to have a productively employable pool ready.

The learning and skilling players need a policy with a sharp focus on creating an organised skilling ecosystem, going beyond vocational education and training, which implicates a structured skill mapping, development and industry connect while aligning with the skill needs of the 21st century and Industry 4.0 ecosystem.

Introduced under Vande Bharat mission, Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support (SWADES) Skill card could serve as a pilot. SWADES Skill Card’s deliberated and dedicated mechanism to map the skills of the returning citizens, create a database of the talent pool, and link them to relevant job opportunities in different sectors could be further replicated for general public/ youth’s benefit.

– Innovative Credit schemes: The ecosystem can be reinforced with the introduction of innovative small scale credit schemes with simple and flexible terms for individuals/ freshers, which would enable easy availability and accessibility of funds for skill development to them.

– Creating a strong digital infrastructure along with a robust back-end protocol including data protection. This can be done by mobilising immediate dedicated funds for engaging more public-private partnerships to match the scale and speed that our country’s length and breadth necessitates.

– Tax-exemptions as an incentive: Focus on increasing employability and encouraging educational institutions and students by giving tax exemptions on the amount being spent on skill enhancement and development. A five-year income tax break and additional funds/ incentives on measured performance, basis the assessing body’s delivery and outreach matrix, would serve as a source of encouragement to the ed-tech and skill providing start-ups in India.

The success of Aatmanirbhar Bharat will largely depend upon an inclusive approach, be it any plan or programme. If we are not hitting the rural rungs of the country, which consists of 75% of the Indian population, our dream of becoming the Skill Capital of the world will remain a fantasy. Therefore, the industry’s wish list also demands a separate vernacular fund in a phase-wise manner.

Business World

Pre Budget Quote on Education Sector 2021 – 2022

Jan 27, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #P.C. Chhabra- Executive Director, #Sanskriti University, #Som Sharma Founder & Director Edu Brain Group, #Tarun Goel Director of TDII - The Design Institute of India

 

P.C. Chhabra- Executive Director, Sanskriti UniversityP.C. Chhabra- Executive Director, Sanskriti University

The Union Budget for 2021-2022 is a much-awaited one as it will be the first since the New Education Policy was introduced last year. The Union budget 2021 should give guidelines on the ‘NEP implementation plan’ and further strengthen the focus and investment in Edu-tech to enhance experiential and immersive learning and reinforce the skill development process at par with the global education standards. The stakeholders are eyeing the Budget 2021 with a lot of expectations as the government has already signalled allocation of 6% of the GDP towards education. Education in India needs to be recognized as an equalizer as a crucial instrument that can bridge the socio-economic divide in our country. Income inequality in India stems from the enormous disparity in learning outcomes after completion of education. And, to address this gap, reallocation of resources from other sectors need to be made and re-routed towards building a level-playing field for all students. Budget 2021 needs to focus on investments towards building a robust system of accountability, checks, and balances to level-up the delivery and quality of higher education. We expect the government to introduce a framework for formalizing the online education coupling it with exhaustive provisions for bridging the digital divide between both ends of the education value chain.

Som Sharma Founder & Director Edu Brain Group

Som Sharma Founder & Director Edu Brain Group

The education sector is facing drastic challenges due to the ongoing pandemic and budget FY 2021 is going to play a pivotal role in reviving the education system. The Education sector witnessed a key development last year in form of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) which was unveiled by the Narendra Modi government to bring reforms. The New Education Policy (NEP-2020) brought aggressive changes in the Higher Education System of our country – provided flexibility in the learning curve, emphasized on conceptual understanding and blended learning. These factors are essential for enumerating education, employment and skills development. To bridge the digital divide and strengthen India’s promising edtech, startup ecosystem, we expect the government to provide better internet infrastructure, robust data protection systems and more tax exemptions in the upcoming Union Budget.

Tarun Goel Director of TDII – The Design Institute of India  

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the education sector has been facing innumerable challenges & students of all ages have gone through a rough patch in terms of loss of valuable classroom learning & interacting, So the hopes/expectations are that the 2021-22 budget is going to play a significant role in reviving the education system and setting the pace for our new National Education Policy (NEP) for the development of the education sector in India.1) setting up bank schemes for providing student loans in private education sector.2) Providing financial support to private sector institutions to facilitate low-cost and zero cost loans to students.3) The Government should increase the expenditure on education in the upcoming budget to focus on the execution of the new policy, quality of education and skill development which will further pave ways for more skilled jobs. 4) Setting up an organisation to regulate & support private education colleges & institutes (like UGC) to facilitate structural development in private education. 5) Set up an organisation to provide funds & facilities for upgradation of infrastructure of public & private higher education and professional institutions to provide world class education to students of all sections & strata’s of our country. 6) providing funds for creating a centralized training & placement organisation to provide skilled jobs to more & more students.